Turmeric protects against alcohol-induced brain damage

Wednesday, June 12, 2013 by: PF Louis
Tags: alcoholism, turmeric, brain damage

(NaturalNews) It's very likely there is no other more single internationally researched herb than turmeric's curcumin. Curcumin is the active ingredient of the food spice turmeric, which has been commonly used mostly in curries throughout Asia for centuries.

A recent study in India seems to have given a remedy for brain damage from chronic heavy alcohol consumers. Not that it should be an alcoholic's cover, but perhaps curcumin from turmeric would provide a recovery from brain damage after a period of heavy alcohol consumption.

Whatever way it's used, this study serves as yet another indication of this simple, inexpensive herbal spice to provide potent anti-inflammatory cellular protection in any area of the body.

The India study

The study, "Protective effect of curcumin against chronic alcohol-induced cognitive deficits and neuroinflammation in the adult rat brain," was conducted in India at Panjab University Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences and completed April 2013. (1)

Basically they got a bunch of rats drunk, observed their dysfunctional behaviors under nearly tortuous testing conditions and measured various aspects of their neurological biochemistry. Then they gave them curcumin, turmeric's active ingredient and observed the difference.

Animal rights activists usually focus on rescuing dogs and rabbits from laboratory dungeons of scientific experimentation. But the overall societal attitude toward rats and mice as despicable disease-carrying food storage-invaders has exempted them from much humanitarian concern.

Lab rats and mice have been bred specifically for laboratory research for well over 100 years because their biological reactions to chemicals are similar to humans, they create new generations quickly and often with genetic consistency, and they are easy to handle while taking up little space. (2)

After 10 weeks of ethanol dosing, 10 weeks of curcumin treatments resolved all the biochemical, behavioral, and molecular alterations that were produced by chronic ethanol intake. (3)

It seems that there would have been a sufficient number of human boozers to volunteer for this trial, but that probably would have been more expensive and difficult. They probably would have refused to stop drinking long enough for the curcumin to show results.

Other reasons than drinking yourself silly to use turmeric/curcumin

Turmeric/curcumin intake's anti-cancer quality has more than once surprisingly impressed researchers at a bastion of mainstream cancer, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. (4)

In 2008, endocrinology researchers at Columbia University's Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center determined that curcumin reverses many of the inflammatory and metabolic problems in mouse models of type 2 diabetes. Mice exploited again. (5)

There have been many scientific investigations showing how curcumin is effective at relieving rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory conditions, with humans even! Retired neurosurgeon Dr. Russell Blaylock lists curcumin as one of the items to use for preventing neurological damage from a vaccination.

Since turmeric is extremely inexpensive and curcumin's toxicity load is beyond reach for most, it would be wise to use either the food form or curcumin extract on a regular basis. Women should avoid turmeric/curcumin while pregnant.

Curcumin's beneficial quality has difficulty getting past the stomach and into the small intestines where it can be absorbed into the blood stream. But mixing turmeric with a healthy fat or fats such as milk and coconut oil, adding black pepper, and heating the mixture creates an assimilable solution.

Here's a recipe example, you can use other healthy oils or fats than what's shown (http://kissesandchaos.com/2013/01/08/golden-milk-recipe/).

If you're too busy for that, a few bucks more will provide you with curcumin capsules. But they should be enteric-coated to protect the curcumin from stomach acids, and they should also contain piperine or biopirine, black pepper's active ingredient that helps absorb nutrients.

Sources for this article include:

(1) http://www.vitasearch.com/get-clp-summary/40684

(2) http://www.wisegeek.org/why-are-rats-used-in-animal-testing.htm

(3) http://sciencealerts.com

(4) https://www.naturalnews.com/037879_curcumin_cancer_cells_turmeric.html

(5) http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080620195436.htm